Railroad-car heater



(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

H. M. BELL 8a W. ARMSTRONG.,

RAILRAD GAR HEATER.

N0. 423,369. Patented Mar. ll, 1890..

3 SheetsTSheet 2.

(No Monial.)

M. BELL 8v W. ARMSTRONG.

RAILROAD GAB. HEATER.

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

H. M. BELL a W. ARMSTRONG.

RAILROAD CAR HEA'IER.

Pai-.med Mar. 11, 1890;

N. PETERS, mxvuswgnmr. www ma UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HARRISON M. BELL AND WILLIAM ARMSTRONG, OF MARTINSBURG, IVEST VIRGINIA.

RAILROAD-CAR HEATER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 423,369, dated March 11, 1890.

Application filed October 25, 1889.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, HARRISON M. BELL and WILLIAM ARMSTRONG, citizens of the United States, residing at Martinsburg, in the county of Berkeley and- State of West Virginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railroad-Car Heaters; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The invention relates to improvements in railroad-car heaters; and it consists in the construction and novel combination of parts hereinafter described, andv pointed out in the appended claims.

Figure l of the drawings is a perspective view of the nre-box of a locomotive With part of an apparatus illustrating the invention attached. Fig. 2 isa side elevation of a portion of a train to which this invention is applied, the locomotive being partially in section to show the heating-chamber in the firebox. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section of a part of the locomotive, showing the heating-chamber in the ire-box. Fig. a is a plan view of the floor of a car with the invention attached. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of partsof a car and tender to which the invention is attached.

The invention is of that class of heaters in which the heat is derived from the fire-box of the locomotive, and is thence conducted in piping to the cars; but in the present instance steam from the boiler, when necessary or desired, may be substituted for the heating agent. In this case there is in the combusltion-chamber a hot-air chamber closed except where it communicates with the pipes that extend from it to the cars, which pipes enter said chamber on either side and constitute, respectively, the ducts for the air that flows into and ont of the hot-air chamber. p The duct, the circulation being kept up by an air- Serial No. 328,285. (No model.)

steam may be caused to iiow therethrough instead of hot air.

Referring to the drawings by letter, A desl ignates a part of the boiler of a locomotive; B, the lire-box; b, Fig. 3, the usual steam-space, and b3 the door of the fire-box. In the fireboX, preferably in the crown, is secured the horizontal hot-air chamber C, of suitable shape, but preferably having that shape shown in the drawings, in which the central par-t of said chamber crosses the front part of the iire-box transversely, and is provided with the arms c c', which stand at right an? gles from its ends, as shown. The said cham,- ber C is entirely closed, except Where the airducts, hereinafter described, enter it.

D D are opposite air-ducts, which pass through openings in the front wall of the fire-box and respectively project into the arms o c of the chamber C. IEach duct D D descends on the' outside of the wall of the fire-box and is respectively provided with a cut-off cock or valve. Thus the duct D has the valve Z3 and the duct D the valve dl, and each pipe passes under the bottom of the tenderand cars, as shown, the ducts being connected beneath the Iloor of the cars near the ends thereof by the pipes cl, provided with suitable stop-cocks di. The ducts are also provided With stop-cocks d5, situated to the outside of the tubes d in eachcar, as seen in Fig. 1i.v I

E are the couplings for the sections of the ducts between the cars, and f is a chamber just below the iioor of the car F, Fig. 4, containing a tubular radiator connected :in the outgoing duct D. The said radiator is covered by a register f', to regulate the tlow of heat into the car in the ordinary well-known Inanner.

G is an air-pump communicating with the IOO chamber C.

return-duct D below its stop-cock d, and arranged and constructed to draw the air out of said duct and force it into the hot-air The pressure in said chamber caused by the pump forces the heated air out through the duct D to the radiators in the cars. By means of the pipe g2, connecting the return-duct from the train, the returned air is taken again by the pump and forced through the pipe g to the return-duct D, and thence to the heater and system. To' accomplish this it is necessary to provide a cut-olf d6 inthe pipe D at a convenient point between the junction of the pipes g g2 with the pipe D.

An air-reservoir M, located, as now shown, under the tender, may be used to receive the air returned fromv the pipes, from which reservoir, by closing cock cl3, (see Fig. 2,) air' may be drawn'b'y the pu'mpinstead of directly from the pipe D".

When'thereare a numberrof cars in the; train, the cocks d5 of the 'ducts or pipes D D i in rear ofthe last car must be closed and the cocks d4of' the lrear pipe d of said car must be' opened", while all'the' 'other cocks cl'of the ducts'y or pipes-D D" must be opened andv all the other cocks d4 must be closed,'else` the' circulation will not reach to the end ofthe train.

The pump G is provided', in any usual or well-known way,with an automatically-acting valve, whereby the supply of air to the heating system is automatically regulated. When sufficient air has been thus introduced, a pressure-valve'in the pump will close and preventthe entrance of more.

If desiredv to thaw ou't ythe v'alve h of the braking apparatusor warm and loosen any clogging matter gathered' there, communication fcan be hadv between said valve and the pipe D by means of the pipev h.

The means whereby' the hot-air ducts com municate' with the brake'app'aratus is as fol:- low'sf: h2 designatesrv the' usual brake-pipe in the Vestinghouse system, and H the hot-air pipe used to brakewith when the Westinghouse valves have become clogged. h3 is the usual engineers brake-valve. The pump G, being similar to the Westinghouse pump, exerts the same amount of pressure. The connection between the hot-air and the braking system is made through the pipe h, which is a pipe extending from the'ou'tgoing duct D to .a stop-cock' h at the upper endv of the pipe H. By opening this cock hot air from the duct D and thel hot-air chamber may be driven into the brake-pipes to operate the brakes.

The means for using steam to heat the cars in place of hot air is as follows: I, Fig. 1, is a.

steam-duct connecting with the outgoing airduct D, as shown, and passing into the steam space or dome of the boilers. The said steamduct being provided with the stop-cock z' and connecting with the steam-gage through a pipe t", when the cock d3 of the duct D is closed and the cock z' of the duct I is opened, it is evident that hot air will be'cut off from circulating in the ducts and its place will be taken by steam.

K is a pipe rising from the duct D in rear of the tender, with its upper end opening into the water-space thereof'and provided with the stop-cock 7c, the duct D having the stop-cock cl2 in front of said pipe. When using steam, the cock d2 is closed and the cock k opened, so that the cooled steam vand water of condensation returning through the duct D will be discharged into the water in the tender and not be forced into the hot-air chamber.

The hot-air chamber is preferably of cast-- iron or steel about one inch thick, and the ends of the ducts lwithin said chambers'are preferably of steel. K l. g

The hot-air chamber is secured withinA the f hre-box by any suitable means, but preferably Y by brackets of the saine material and. 'power of resistance'as that of the said chamber.`

The shape and position of the tubular radiators may be varied to suit circumstances.v

Heretofore there have been( attempts made vto heat a system of pipes in railroad-cars by fplacing a coil of the pipe in the hre-box of the locomotive; but this was objectionable,

because too small an amount ofair is heated in this way, and because it was not found possible to expose any such tubing to the intensest heat of the hre-box without soon destroying them'. In our device theI hot-air chamber isy of ample size to afforda comparatively large lreservoir for air heated'to a very high degree, and the material, preferably of cast'-ironyor steel,l of which the chamberis madepinsuies the greatest durability.K` The chamber is so made and located that, it dores IOO not in any considerable degree interfere with the proper. heating actionv of the tire on the boiler. The' chamber is, by'mean's: of its structure Aand form, made very durable and will easily sustain the'intensest heat'of the fire-box', A l y ,I Having described our invention, we claim;- 1. In a car-heater, the ycombination of the air-heating' chamber, consisting of the transverse part extending across..the front ofthe locomotive fire-box and the 4arms c c', extending from the transverse part along the sides of said fire-box, with the'circulating-ducts D D', which extend into said armsc c', respect- 4 ively, substantially as described.

2. In a' car-heating apparatus, the combination o'f the hot-air chamber in thecrown ofthe hre-box, the circulating-duct D, having cocks d3, and duct D provided with cocks d2 and elf, and the connecting-pipes d, com- IZO municating with said ducts D Dand forming a circuit, the steam-pipeI, communicating with said duct D, the pipe K, having cock 7c, and providing communication between the duct D and the tank of the tender, whereby the cars may be heated by either air or steam, substantially as set forth. v

3. In a car-heating apparatus, the hot-air chamber C in the tire-box of the locomotive, consisting of the transverse part across the front of the locomotive and the arms c e', eX- tending therefrom along the sides of the fireboX, combined With the circulating-ducts D D', extending into said arms and thence beneath the cars of the train, and the pump G, having pipes g g2, connecting with said ducts D D', and suitable valves and cut-offs in the system, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

4. In a car-heating apparatus, a hotair chamber in the re-boX, a circuit including the pipes extending through the train, a pump in said circuit, having also a valved communication with the outer air, the pipes HARRISON M. BELL. WILLIAM ARMSTRONG. Witnesses:

JAMEs C. FRAZER, JOHN FARRIN. 

